Sunday, March 1, 2015

Community Post #5: Critique Two Memoirs

The first memoir I read was: "A Tough Situation at a Young Age Made Me Stronger" by Dynamic Views

As both a writer and a reader I have noted it important to proof read, in this memoir I found quite a few spelling errors which distracted me from the content of the memoir. I have learned to always reread my work multiple times as well ads read it out loud to myself to make sure everything sounds good and makes sense.

Another thing I noticed in this memoir was the lack of story line... my understanding of a memoir is that it is written in the name of honesty and truth, but it also has a story-like essence to it, making it appealing to readers. It was hard for me to relate to the lesson learned from this persons experience because I felt like it was being told to me, in a sort of messy manor, rather than it being written chronologically (or at least with some type of order). I wasn't really pulled into it, and this made it difficult for me to take interest in it despite its important message. There was a very limited universal appeal because of the way it was written. People are much easier to relate to things that are more generalized. For example, sharing the experience and then going into detail about what was learned from said experience without redundantly emphasizing it.

However, the memoir had a very important message that everyone can take something from.

The second memoir I read was: "Understanding Alone" by The Narrator.

This memoir hit home for me, which will be obvious if you read my memoir. I think that the way the story was told was very effective and really allowed for me to relate and feel something when I was reading it. It gave me the chills! There was a universal appeal because I was able to relate your words and your lesson to my own life without having the same experience you did, and to me that is very important when it comes to memoirs.

The only real weakness I found was this paragraph: Sometimes, people go through hard times. It's not their fault. It's never their fault. Sometimes, people ask for help. And sometimes they don't. But, they still need help. We, as humans, put up barriers to block out the bad, to prevent the hurt that can happen in life. We need to remember, though, that there are ways to break those barriers.
Reading it felt a little redundant, I know that it was written this way for emphasis on the point the writer was trying to make, but it became choppy and distracting.

Also, another strength I found was that the writer had this experience, had a revelation, but then the story came full circle when the writer had similar feelings to what Elizabeth had, which was very powerful and worked as a reminder that these things happen and they can happen to anyone, even us.